I know this doesn't help the OP's search for a good software DVR, but for media center functionality, Plex on Mac OS X is hard to beat. Windows Media Center on Windows 7 is indeed quite good and handily beats things like Apple's Front Row (which is really a bad joke). Plex happens to be even better by a long shot. It is easy to use and navigate, and also does things like pulling in artwork and ratings from IMDB for movies. On my late 2007-rev. Mac mini it even plays 1080p movies pretty well which is quite a feat considering the 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and anemic GMA950 graphics. The main downside, other than lack of DVR functionality, is that it depends on plugins for things like Hulu and Netflix. Netflix seems to work okay but Hulu, mainly due to Hulu doing everything it can to block applications from accessing it, is flaky at best. For browsing an existing library of video files I have found nothing better, though. Best of all it was very easy to set up.

I don't know how much software DVRs have advanced from when I last messed with a Hauppauge WinTV card 6 years ago, but from what I've read it's still a hair-pulling experience. I even loathed using my cable company's DVR box a couple years ago. Even if it was easy enough to use, it was just a pain to go through and have to select what I want recorded and hoping that the program would fit exactly in the timeslot and that the program's schedule wouldn't change. All too often I ended up with the beginning or end of the program cut off or a football game or something else even though the DVR functioned exactly as it was supposed to. If Hulu can seriously bump up its program selection and comes up with a way for third-party programs to interface with it then I think it may very well be the future of how TV is watched on computers. I don't even care if I have to sit through stupid commercials, I just want to watch what I want when I want to watch it.

I ticked the "6-10" box. I'm 26 and have had only 5 primary employers since 16. My first job lasted nearly 2 years, my second only 2 months, the third 5 years, the next 2 1/2 years, and my current is going on 11 months. I also had a second job last year. My current job was a second job until I left my primary job and kept this one instead. 6 jobs in 10 years is not a lot at all, especially when one of those jobs takes up half my work history, and the 3 longest tenured of those jobs take up a total of 85% of my work history. I was never a full-time student and only went to college for a year. I also have left all my jobs voluntarily, having neither been fired nor laid off from any. My work history is rather unusual for someone of both my age and my lack of secondary education.

I also have to think that many people here are underestimating the number of jobs they've had. Second jobs and seasonal positions do count, and so do those jobs that you leave off your resume for simplification or because you didn't have a good experience there. I would expect most people my age to have had at least a dozen jobs in their entire working history, especially if they started working during high school. A college student having had 5 or 6 jobs when they graduate is not unusual at all, I don't think.

I can see it now. Stevinson Toyota and Liquormart. Where the sales people will try to sell you a top shelf 10-year-old scotch with an extended warranty, paint protection, and theft recovery service.

I have a LaserJet 4L and it worked great in both Mac OS X and in Linux via a USB-to-parallel adapter. Haven't tried it in Windows since Windows XP SP1 on the last computer I owned with a parallel port (that was a few years ago). I refuse to get rid of the thing since it's incredibly cheap to run and if my current Brother HL-2070N goes flaky, the old HP will suit my basic needs just fine. I expect that old tank to outlast many more computers than it already has.

I also can put in a good word for the 2070N. Had mine for about 3 years and although I don't use it much, it has always worked every time I have needed it. It also has pretty good print quality and is fast for such an inexpensive printer. I mostly use it via USB, and Windows 7, Ubuntu, and Mac OS X 10.5 have picked it up with no issue. It also worked with HP LaserJet 4 CUPS drivers so it seems anything that supports older versions of PCL should work fine with this thing. I also still have an old HP LaserJet 4L that refuses to die. It is going on 16 years old at this point and even though the Brother replaced it, I can't get rid of it. It is slow at only 4 pages per minute and has a limited 300dpi. But at $30 for an aftermarket printer cartridge (that's both image drum and toner cartridge in one unit) that lasts 3000 pages, it's very cheap to run. Makes the Brother look almost expensive in comparison. I have no idea if Windows 7 works with it still though. I do know there are CUPS drivers for it so it's plug and play in Linux and Mac OS X. Had it working with my iBook G4, via a USB-to-parallel cable, and it worked with no setup with Mac OS X 10.4.

Mostly a subscription service. After downloading the Bar application, you hit the "Order Drink" button, at a cost of $6, every half-hour to stay logged in. If someone you're interested in comes up to you, it is required that you use the "Order Them a Drink" button in order to chat with them. Often you will need to hit that button multiple times to continue chatting with them. You continue to do this until either your funds are exhausted or someone gives you their phone number or goes home with you.

Palm Desktop stopped functioning years ago, so Apple finally dropping support for it is not a bad thing at all. I'm sure Missing Sync for Palm OS will be continue to function or be updated to function in Snow Leopard. I know I had to use it with my Centro since the decrepit Palm Desktop didn't work for it. Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices also rely on third-party software to sync in Mac OS X. Apple dropping support on their side is a non-issue.

The beer problem has already been taken care of. New Belgium has better beer than old Belgium and gets rids of the whole pesky "being an ornery European country" thing.